The New York City Economy Tracker is a joint project between Investopedia and NY1, using publicly available data to evaluate the economic health of the city across a variety of metrics.

For the week of January 22 2024, we’re looking at how dining out in New York City costs more than it did last year, including the costs of classic NYC foods like pizza and hot dogs.

Dining Out in NYC Is 6% Pricier Than Last Year

Grabbing a bite to eat out in New York City is going to cost you more than it did last year, thanks to inflation. According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’s Consumer Price Index, prices for food away from home in NYC were almost 6% higher in December 2023 than they were the previous December. The big apple is tied with Los Angeles but substantially more expensive than Philly and Chicago’s year-over-year price increases. Boston had the biggest spike in the cost of dining out, rising 8.8% over the same period.

While inflation has cooled over the past year, the cost of food away from home is one of the most notable items still experiencing higher levels of inflation in the NYC area. The 5.8% yearly increase in the cost of restaurant dining is notably more than NYC’s overall inflation rate of 2.9%.

Classic NYC Food Staples See Price Bumps

Inflation has made some classic NYC staples like hot dogs and pizza more expensive, too. For example, a plain hot dog at the iconic Nathan’s Famous in Coney Island is up to $5.49—it was about $4.75 in 2021 according to the New York Post. Additionally, the average price for a slice of cheese pizza went from $2.51 in 2020 to $3.00 in 2022, according to reporter Liam Quigley who has logged 464 slices of pizza in the city over the past eight years. For a slice of pepperoni the price jumped from $3.83 to $4.58 over the same time period.

Higher restaurant pricing could mean New Yorkers are cutting back on dining out. According to data from the Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey, average household spending in New York State on food away from home in October 2023 was $112.87 every two weeks. This is almost a dollar less than the $113.60 average in October 2022, suggesting New Yorkers may be reducing their restaurant budgets already.

Leisure and Hospitality Wages in NYC Are Rising

Higher prices for dining out in NYC are the result of multiple factors including: rising import and overhead costs, a lack of competition and demand, as well as increasing labor costs. According to data from the NYS Department of Labor, average earnings for leisure and hospitality workers, of which restaurant workers make up a substantial proportion, have increased from an estimated $20.09 an hour in December 2019 to $23.48 an hour in December 2023, assuming a 40 hour work week. That 17% increase over a four year period is one of the highest among all industries in the city.

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